The IRS in charge of America's health care.... yaah, what could possibly go wrong there?

From the government body that brought you Tea Party Takedown and Lois Lerner Lies comes yet another scandal that illustrates the sheer incompetence and corruption of our unaccountable government.

$67 million allocated to an IRS slush fund for the purpose of rolling out Obamacare is unaccounted for, according to a report issued by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

When the Affordable Care Act was adopted in 2010, it included a provision to establish a $1 billion Health Insurance Reform Implementation Fund “to pay for the Federal administrative expenses to carry out the ACA”—yet another joyous discovery about the bill that passed “so that you can find out what is in it.”

So far, the IRS has been allocated $488 million from the HIRIF to help the agency prepare for the “law’s numerous tax provisions.” The audit was performed to determine whether the IRS had used the funds appropriately to create an “adequate process to accurately account for and report selected ACA implementation costs charged to the HIRIF.”

The report—released just two weeks before the launch of Obamacare Exchanges—reveals that Obamacare finances are already in ruins. Take a look:

…The IRS did not track all costs associated with implementation of the ACA including costs not charged to the HIRIF. Specifically, the IRS did not account for or attempt to quantify approximately $67 million of indirect ACA costs incurred for Fiscal Years 2010 through 2012. Indirect costs include, for example, providing employees with workspace and information technology support.

The IRS established a methodology to track ACA costs in its accounting records. However, the IRS accounted for only direct costs, such as labor and contract costs, because it did not believe that indirect costs should be recovered from the HIRIF…

…By not also identifying and tracking indirect costs, the IRS lacks complete information regarding the full cost of ACA implementation. This lack of complete information on ACA implementation costs limits the IRS’s ability to accurately report to stakeholders the total resources it applied to the ACA implementation and fully estimate the resources needed in the future for this effort.

This is just the beginning. If the IRS managed to mishandle $67 million during the preparation process, what’s going to happen when the agency is responsible for overseeing the new Obamacare tax regulations that affect every American citizen?

The political targeting of charity groups by supposedly ‘non-partisan,’ IRS officials was hard enough to stomach, but the idea that these same officials are going to be in charge of financing national health care services is nothing short of a recipe for disaster.

The missing $67 million is going to be pocket-change in comparison to how much Obamacare will cost in the long run. But in this economy, most Americans can’t spare their pocket change, let alone $67 million worth of taxed income.

Which begs the question, yet again: Who assumed the IRS was more capable than you to oversee your health finances?

So you don;t know that executives in the private sector with fiduciary duties and CFO's who sign off on SEC filings go to jail when they steal, misappropriate, mislead, or misrepresent their financials???? Surely you know this....

So you don;t know that executives in the private sector with fiduciary duties and CFO's who sign off on SEC filings go to jail when they steal, misappropriate, mislead, or misrepresent their financials???? Surely you know this....

Those are nice sentiments but where are all these indictments?

Are you saying that no one broke the law in the last market meltdown?

And that is one person person in the corporation. I ask again, how do you lock up a corporation that commits fraud? Aren't "corporation people my friend"?

I guess you want me to believe that all of the fines paid by Goldman Sachs et al without admitting guilt, is an actual deterent to these corps.

go get a cpa, be a cfo and intentionally misreperesent your revenue in your SEC filings for a public company.....you'll get jail time.....in government you'd get promoted.....

21 people were convicted or plead guilty in the Enron scandal...WHY??? because they had fiduciary responsibilities....its how executives go to jail when they steal or screw up.....i cant believe you dont know this.....

So you don;t know that executives in the private sector with fiduciary duties and CFO's who sign off on SEC filings go to jail when they steal, misappropriate, mislead, or misrepresent their financials???? Surely you know this....

Those are nice sentiments but where are all these indictments?

Are you saying that no one broke the law in the last market meltdown?

And that is one person person in the corporation. I ask again, how do you lock up a corporation that commits fraud? Aren't "corporation people my friend"?

I guess you want me to believe that all of the fines paid by Goldman Sachs et al without admitting guilt, is an actual deterent to these corps.

go get a cpa, be a cfo and intentionally misreperesent your revenue in your SEC filings for a public company.....you'll get jail time.....in government you'd get promoted.....

21 people were convicted or plead guilty in the Enron scandal...WHY??? because they had fiduciary responsibilities....its how executives go to jail when they steal or screw up.....i cant believe you dont know this.....

Let me put this succinctly:

How many CFO's would've gone to jail for "not track(ing) all costs associated with implementation" of anything within their company?

None.

"Not tracking" <=> Fraud. Get it?

$67 million doesnt vanish into thin air in private industry...that's only allowed in government...and you are proving my point...nobody cares beacuase its the norm in government.

So you don;t know that executives in the private sector with fiduciary duties and CFO's who sign off on SEC filings go to jail when they steal, misappropriate, mislead, or misrepresent their financials???? Surely you know this....

Those are nice sentiments but where are all these indictments?

Are you saying that no one broke the law in the last market meltdown?

And that is one person person in the corporation. I ask again, how do you lock up a corporation that commits fraud? Aren't "corporation people my friend"?

I guess you want me to believe that all of the fines paid by Goldman Sachs et al without admitting guilt, is an actual deterent to these corps.

go get a cpa, be a cfo and intentionally misreperesent your revenue in your SEC filings for a public company.....you'll get jail time.....in government you'd get promoted.....

21 people were convicted or plead guilty in the Enron scandal...WHY??? because they had fiduciary responsibilities....its how executives go to jail when they steal or screw up.....i cant believe you dont know this.....

Let me put this succinctly:

How many CFO's would've gone to jail for "not track(ing) all costs associated with implementation" of anything within their company?

None.

"Not tracking" <=> Fraud. Get it?

$67 million doesnt vanish into thin air in private industry...that's only allowed in government...and you are proving my point...nobody cares beacuase its the norm in government.

Hey dipstick, have you ever looked at the balance sheet of any large corporation?

That's where large public companies put the money that "vanishes into thin air". No explanation, no itemization, just one big "Other".

So just quit with you ridiculous false equivalencies, you're trying too hard and it shows.

Dipstick?? you shouldnt call people names....its impolite and cowardly.

so an account on an SEC regulated company has no detail....internal audit comes in and asks why, what, and demands backup for the expenses in that fund, then external audit comes in does the same, internal and external audit present findings to the audit committee who reports to the board, then the sec asks questions and sends in their people, then investors question it and so on and so on...you live in fantasy world...private industry doesnt lose $67 million without explanation...you obviously know little about corporate america....and stop calling me names...i dont do it to you....or anybody here. its cowardly to call someone a name in a chat room who you wouldnt call a name to his face. be polite....its not my fault you are frustrated with your life and your shortcomings....have a great weekend and be nice to people....

So you don;t know that executives in the private sector with fiduciary duties and CFO's who sign off on SEC filings go to jail when they steal, misappropriate, mislead, or misrepresent their financials???? Surely you know this....

Those are nice sentiments but where are all these indictments?

Are you saying that no one broke the law in the last market meltdown?

And that is one person person in the corporation. I ask again, how do you lock up a corporation that commits fraud? Aren't "corporation people my friend"?

I guess you want me to believe that all of the fines paid by Goldman Sachs et al without admitting guilt, is an actual deterent to these corps.

go get a cpa, be a cfo and intentionally misreperesent your revenue in your SEC filings for a public company.....you'll get jail time.....in government you'd get promoted.....

21 people were convicted or plead guilty in the Enron scandal...WHY??? because they had fiduciary responsibilities....its how executives go to jail when they steal or screw up.....i cant believe you dont know this.....

Let me put this succinctly:

How many CFO's would've gone to jail for "not track(ing) all costs associated with implementation" of anything within their company?

None.

"Not tracking" <=> Fraud. Get it?

$67 million doesnt vanish into thin air in private industry...that's only allowed in government...and you are proving my point...nobody cares beacuase its the norm in government.

Hey dipstick, have you ever looked at the balance sheet of any large corporation?

That's where large public companies put the money that "vanishes into thin air". No explanation, no itemization, just one big "Other".

So just quit with you ridiculous false equivalencies, you're trying too hard and it shows.

Dipstick?? you shouldnt call people names....its impolite and cowardly.

so an account on an SEC regulated company has no detail....internal audit comes in and asks why, what, and demands backup for the expenses in that fund, then external audit comes in does the same, internal and external audit present findings to the audit committee who reports to the board, then the sec asks questions and sends in their people, then investors question it and so on and so on...you live in fantasy world...private industry doesnt lose $67 million without explanation...you obviously know little about corporate america....and stop calling me names...i dont do it to you....or anybody here. its cowardly to call someone a name in a chat room who you wouldnt call a name to his face. be polite....its not my fault you are frustrated with your life and your shortcomings....have a great weekend and be nice to people....

You're right ... I shouldn't have such a kneejek reaction just because you call people hypocrits etc., I should be above that. Mea culpa and enjoy your self-granted immunity from such restraint.

In case you haven't noticed but this is an internal accounting for direct costs in an inter-agency transaction and was done in accordance with the policies for such actions.

The IRS established a methodology to track ACA costs in its accounting records. However, the IRS accounted for only direct costs, such as labor and contract costs, because it did not believe that indirect costs should be recovered from the HIRIF, TIGTA pointed out. The IRS’s use of HIRIF funding only for ACA direct costs is consistent with the HIRIF requirements.Accounting Today web site.

Just like with your private company scenario, if there is a problem then an audit by the GAO can be performed to find and attribute the indirect costs associated with the program.

Funny how you would automatically give the corporation a pass in such a situation and just assume everything that they do is on the up-and-up yet you immediately charge the IRS with fraud without a shred of evidence. Do you actually think that some employee was able to swindle $67 million from the IRS without getting caught? Seriously?

You wingnuts keep playing judge, jury and executioner and create these alternate realities in your heads where you just "know stuff", absent any facts or evidence.

That crystal ball comes in pretty handy I guess.

Apparently hundreds of millions goes missing from the government every year. Medicaid fraud, IRS Obamacare enforcement, the big dig.